A recap for tennis fans who missed Friday’s eventful Rome semifinal between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic.
The pair played their way to a third set tiebreaker. With Serena serving at 2-0 she hit an ace. Jankovic complained to the chair that she wasn’t ready but the umpire sided with Serena. Point to Serena for 3-0.
Minutes later down 3-5, a Jankovic serve was disallowed because Serena had stopped play. Unlike Jelena, Serena clearly did have a hand up before Jelena served and the umpire sided with Serena. Right call I think, although there’s certainly a hint of gamesmanship from Serena.
Jelena argued but lost the battle. She did, however, win next four points to take the match.
But the controversy didn’t stop there. As the two shook hands at the net, Serena apologized to Jelena for stopping play and then told her what sounds to be “I’m not Justine you know what I mean”.
Serena is referencing the infamous 2003 French Open semifinal whence Justin Henin held up her hand to stop play during a Serena serve. The umpire never saw Henin’s hand go up so the missed serve stood. After Serena argued a timeout was called the chair asked Henin but the Belgian kept mum.
Judge for yourself. Does Serena really take a swipe at Justine?
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